City denies police a rehabed firing range

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BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) - The city has turned down plans for a new firing range after concerns from neighbors about the danger and noise. The Boise Police Department announced today they will not rehab their firing range even though they state a new facility would be safer.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission made the decision not to rebuild the firing range. The Boise Deputy chief William bones said there has been a lot of misunderstanding about a proposal to remodel their shooting range on mountain cove road. Pushback from the neighborhood made the city rethink its plans on rehabbing the gun range.

“There’s always backlash anytime you talk about expanding things, I like to look at the plans see how it’s going to influence my life,” says Trail runner Robert Werner.

The police say that their idea was to modernize the facility, make it safer and reduce the noise.

One of the many issues that may have been misunderstood is if the city would change directions of the firing range. There are trails that run along the perimeter of the property on Mountain Cove road. Trial goers often can hear shots being fired as they trek through. “If you bring up the gun range, we have the archery range down there as well. You know I am a little bit afraid of the stray arrows than I am of the stray bullets over here,” Werner said.

Rather than push through a proposal without neighborhood support the police department plans on using the shooting range as is and make no changes. They say they will regroup and meet with the neighborhood again and try a new proposal in another year or longer.